Interagency MOU Addresses Chemical Contaminants in Meat, Poultry, and Egg Products
In a move described as advancing the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) initiative, the Department of Agriculture (USDA), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and EPA have updated a memorandum of understanding (MOU) addressing drug residues, pesticide residues, and chemical contaminants in meat, poultry, and egg products. Announced July 10, 2026, the MOU is intended […]
Ninth Circuit Upholds EPA’s 2024 New Chemicals Rule
Less than two weeks after oral argument, a Ninth Circuit panel has denied consolidated challenges to EPA’s 2024 rule governing reviews of new chemicals under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The ruling upholds EPA’s case-by-case evaluations of persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic substances (PBTs) for streamlined new-chemical reviews. It also upholds the Agency’s decision not […]
EPA’s Battery-Cathode SNURs Test the Limits of “Significant New Use”
EPA has proposed two significant new use rules (SNURs) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) that would extend restrictions across the full lifecycle of the cathode substances in lithium-ion batteries, including recycling and reclamation. Industry stakeholders note that this is a departure from ordinary SNUR practice. The rules, published on April 24, 2026, cover […]
D.C. Circuit Upholds EPA’s CERCLA Designation of PFOA and PFOS
The D.C. Circuit has upheld EPA’s designation of two PFAS, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), as hazardous substances under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). In Chamber of Commerce v. EPA, decided August 18, 2026, the court denied every petition challenging the designation, leaving the 2024 rule in place. What […]
Court Rejects EPA Bid to Dismiss TSCA Confidentiality Suit
A federal judge in the Middle District of Georgia has denied EPA’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by Burgess Pigment Company, which is seeking to stop the agency from publicly disclosing the identity of one of its chemical substances. The dispute stems from Burgess’s failure to timely file a required notice under EPA’s “Active/Inactive […]
Microplastics Regulation: EPA Declines to Act, California Moves Forward
EPA and California took opposite approaches to microplastics regulation within weeks of each other. On July 1, 2026, EPA proposed to omit microplastics from the Sixth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR 6). Two weeks earlier on June 18, California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) finalized a regulation adding microplastics to the state’s Safer Consumer […]
Coalition Argues TSCA Bars EPA From Weighing Data-Center Benefits in a New-Chemical Review
A coalition of seventeen environmental organizations, led by Earthjustice, has asked EPA to deny a premanufacture notice (PMN) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for a fluorinated immersion-cooling fluid intended to cool data-center equipment. The comments press three lines of attack: that the substance poses an unreasonable risk EPA must act on, that the […]
Bipartisan Bill Would Give Safer Choice Program Its First Statutory Authorization
For a voluntary program with roughly 2,000 certified products and unusually broad industry support, Safer Choice has always rested on thin statutory footing. EPA has run it for more than a decade under general Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) authority, without any statute naming the program or directing the agency to operate it. A bill […]
FIFRA Preempts Label-Based Failure-to-Warn Claims, Supreme Court Rules
On June 25, 2026, the Supreme Court held, 7-2, that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) preempts a state-law failure-to-warn claim alleging that Monsanto failed to warn users that the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. The decision in Monsanto Co. v. Durnell concludes that EPA’s approval of a pesticide label without a cancer warning […]
EPA Takes TSCA Enforcement Action Against Chemical Importer
EPA has initiated a far-reaching administrative enforcement action against Wego Chemical Group, alleging hundreds of violations of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) stemming from the New York-based chemical distributor’s chemical imports. “Since at least 2016, Wego has imported hundreds of millions of pounds of hundreds of toxic chemicals, mostly from China, without meeting basic […]